


better than new year's at midnight

by melones (lamperouge)



Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: F/F, chuu is just mentioned but, here's my annual holiday fic, i couldn't do christmas so i did new year instead, sorry i made lippie an emotional cheater
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-22 13:49:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22050301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lamperouge/pseuds/melones
Summary: The one where Sooyoung helps Jinsoul out of her post-breakup breakdown during New Year’s Eve.
Relationships: Ha Sooyoung | Yves/Jung Jinsol | Jinsoul, Jung Jinsol | Jinsoul/Kim Jungeun | Kim Lip
Kudos: 78





	better than new year's at midnight

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from Nobody Compares to You by Gryffin

**SOOYOUNG LIKES THE NEW YEAR’S CELEBRATION BETTER THAN CHRISTMAS.** The whole religious definition for Christmas is just something she could not get behind, and the fact that it’s enforcing everyone to give presents to everyone makes her naturally bitter and naturally-inclined-to-fuck-up self even more annoyed than usual. New Year’s Eve, however, is far better than the notion of having to give presents to everyone around. (She’s a broke college kid with no girlfriend, and uses all of her college savings to get her a plane ticket to her province. She can’t afford presents, not at all.) It’s less fake, and more genuine as people welcome the New Year with new hopes. 

Of course Sooyoung does not say this to anyone else, she’d rather just have the bitchy and annoying persona rather than having people know that the New Year’s make her soft. 

Her bed is a mess and her suitcase lies open on the floor of her dorm room - she doesn’t make an effort to clean it up for her roommate, a cheerful sophomore named Jiwoo wouldn’t be back until the day before classes start. Sooyoung would just have to clean up her mess before Jiwoo gets back. 

Sooyoung lies on her mess of a bed and decides to open up her Netflix account - well not really hers because it belongs to her best friend Jinsoul who rarely uses it - to shake off the feeling of homesickness. It’s a good six hours before the annual New Year’s Eve party thrown by the campus sorority and she has way too much time in her hands before she could finally make out with some random girl and ditch her right before the fireworks start. 

It’s always what happens during New Year’s Eve since she started college. Find a random girl. Make out with them. Ditch them right before they get the chance to ask her to watch the fireworks with them. Sooyoung has never watched fireworks with anyone else. There’s no deep definition to it, or a deep meaning as to why she ditches girls before the clock strikes twelve, it’s just something she feels like doing by herself. 

While she’s halfway through an episode of What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim?, her phone rings. It’s Jinsoul, whom she ignores. Jinsoul’s probably going to ask Sooyoung to stay off her Netflix account. 

The phone rings again, though. It takes two more missed calls before Sooyoung finally gets it that Jinsoul would  _ not  _ stop calling until she answers. 

Annoyed, Sooyoung picks up the call. 

“What now?” 

“Look, I know I’ve talked to you about this four score and seven years ago but I really can’t get it out of my mind. How dare she tell me that she has feelings for  _ my friend  _ and then try to get me back, only to date said friend when I broke up with her? That’s so unfair!” Jinsoul is sobbing from the other end of the line. 

Sooyoung feels her heart wobbling. 

“Jinsoul, we’ve gone through this before.  _ That’s  _ the reason why I told you it’s better to break up with Jungeun. I mean, that shit sounds like something I’d pull off and you know it’s bad when you know I’m perfectly capable of doing it.” She sighs. Jinsoul is too… kind to be hurt like that and stepped over by someone as sketchy as Jungeun. 

“Do you think she’d have cheated on me if I took her back?” Jinsoul’s voice from the other end of the line sounds… really bad. 

While Sooyoung regards herself as someone who does not have enough empathy, she feels much of it right now to feel horrible for her best friend. Sooyoung very vividly recalls offering to clock Jungeun in the face every time Jinsoul says something remotely depressing about what happened between her and Jungeun, but Jinsoul wants none of it. Clocking Jungeun is among one of the many things Sooyoung would like to do before the year ends, but she knows that her best friend, Saint Jinsoul would never allow her. 

Instead, Sooyoung relishes in the thought of mentally punching Jungeun and her current girlfriend. 

“Honey, I don’t think it’s going to work that way, or in any way you tell me it will. We literally don’t know what would have happened if you took her back because you never did. Just as you should.” Her voice softens, and it’s very rare that Sooyoung is not filled with words that cut like knives. 

“It could have ended differently, everything could have.” The heavy silence from Jinsoul’s end is seeping through the phone line. No silence should ever be this loud, especially for someone who’s always so bright and noisy like Jinsoul. 

Sooyoung hates it, much more than she hates the way she could never tell the truth without backing out. 

“You know what Jinsoul, we’re going to go out tonight.” It’s the only solution Sooyoung could think of. Bring Jinsoul to the sorority party and maybe give her some pretty girl to use as a rebound. She’d offer her roommate Jiwoo, but her better reasoning tells her that it’s incredibly disrespectful to offer up her roommate -- who’s been nothing but kind to her -- to become her best friend’s rebound. 

“The sorority party will make you forget all about Kim Jungeun and her sneaky ass. I will make  _ sure  _ of it. By the time the clock strikes twelve? You’re going to be a whole new woman.” She adds determinedly, “the party starts at nine, so you better be here by seven in the evening if you want me to make you look like a decent human being.” Then she hung up. 

Sighing, Sooyoung kicked off all the remaining clothes on her bed and into the floor in a fit of thrashing. God she’s such a coward for not telling Jinsoul shit when she should be. 

**JINSOUL’S HEALTHY BLACK HAIR** had turned into a pathetic, yet still absolutely drop dead gorgeous shade of blonde. Sooyoung does not know that and she assumes that its one of the drastic measures Jinsoul had taken in order to move on from Jungeun. It’s almost like a Britney-esque breakdown, except she did not shave her head, nor did she charge at paps. 

“You look good, but you’re also making it painfully obvious that you’re taking super drastic measures in order to get over her. Seriously? Blonde?” Sooyoung exclaims just as when Jinsoul is pushing her out of the doorway of her dorm room. 

The now-blonde best friend sits on Sooyoung’s bed with her features dropping like a hot potato. “I just really need to feel like I’m someone new again, and now someone who’s an idiot for waiting on her every time she leaves only to… be done dirty like that.” 

“Okay, believe me when I tell you that none of this is your fault and you shouldn’t be the one moping around like this and getting hurt when it’s  _ her  _ who should feel like shit for doing you dirty. Seriously, you two have been friends for  _ years  _ and you two have shared so much together. She’s really out of the damn line for doing that.” Here it is: the quiet anger Sooyoung had been suppressing ever since she found out that Jinsoul and Jungeun broke up. 

In all honesty Sooyoung could not understand how anyone in their right mind could ever think that someone is worth more of their attention than Jinsoul, and especially during one of the hardest times of Jinsoul’s life where she’s withdrawn from the rest of the world. The fact that all of these are happening during the holidays, one among the many favourites of Jinsoul, does not help at all. 

“Let’s just… go to this party, yeah?” The resigned sigh from Jinsoul gives Sooyoung the go signal to start looking through her wardrobe for the most drop-dead gorgeous outfit she could find. 

It’s Jinsoul, though. Sooyoung knows she would look good in just about anything. 

**SHE’S MANAGED TO PUT JINSOUL** in a lavender off shoulder dress that hugs all her curves, and applied some very minimal but still eye-catching make-up. When Jinsoul came out of the bathroom, Sooyoung had to process everything for a few seconds before she could finally speak. 

She’s self-aware, which means she knows just how pretty she is -- but there are some people like Jinsoul who are so much prettier than her in every way, and there’s just an added charm for the way Jinsoul does not know it. Her blonde hair is not helping in every way. 

Navigating the party is only an easy feat to accomplish. Sooyoung knows the sorority house like its the back of her hand, and it’s not that hard to drag Jinsoul through the nooks and crannies like it’s her own place. 

“So here’s what you’re going to do: you’re going to scour this place for the prettiest girl you find, and you’re going to make out with them in some random bedroom upstairs. Deal?” There’s a smile of encouragement on Sooyoung’s face, but not quite there at the same time. 

“I’d rather not…” Jinsoul bites her lip as she looks around. The blonde eventually settles for taking a bottle of beer and downing it all within a few gulps. “I do prefer getting drunk though and cursing her name out loud for everyone to hear.” 

The blonde smiles at Sooyoung and it’s the most beautiful thing Sooyoung has ever seen. It’s electrifying, right down to the very edge of her spine. Maybe Jinsoul is far more superior than Sooyoung had ever thought she would be. 

There’s about four shot glasses along with a bottle of beer discarded on the coffee table by the side, and Jinsoul finally catches onto where the  _ real  _ party -- with sweaty bodies grinding against each other on the dancefloor -- is. Without further hesitation, Jinsoul goes over to where everyone had been dancing, leaving Sooyoung to follow her trail. 

It used to be Jinsoul who tends to follow Sooyoung around at parties, and become the designated driver when Sooyoung had become too drunk to know where she is. Things are changing now though, as Jinsoul is currently the one yelling in the middle of the crowd of people who all enable her. 

For a short millisecond, Sooyoung feels a small amount of pride for Jinsoul who looks like she’s already feeling better. But the thing is, if Jinsoul continues drinking at this rate, they would never make it out of his sorority house -- a drunk Jinsoul is just… far worse than Sooyoung being dead drunk on the side of the street. 

“Hey, you need to tone it down on the alcohol. You’re a shit drunk.” It’s sort of Sooyoung reprimanding Jinsoul -- which never happens. It’s always the other way around which makes Sooyoung feel guilty every single time it happens because Jinsoul does not look like she’s mad, more like… really sad. In this case, it’s Sooyoung who feels sorry and feels really heavy about the whole thing. 

“I’m not a shit drunk,  _ you are. _ ” There’s an incredible emphasis on the latter part of the sentence which, admittedly, makes Sooyoung feel guilty. 

She steers Jinsoul away from the drinks table and brings her out to the porch by the back of the house. The air is crisp and cold and there is less noise at the back than from inside the house. It’s peaceful. Sooyoung believes its what Jinsoul needs the most at the moment after saying “fuck you” the entire time while dancing. 

Her hands are sweating and she couldn’t exactly wipe them off her clothes because she’s not wearing any jeans, so Sooyoung settles for just wiping her hands on her thighs. There’s a sudden tension in the air that she doesn’t know when or how it happened. All she knows is that she  _ should  _ be saying something -- but one wrong slip of her mouth could drive the entire mood between her and Jinsoul down to a complete landslide. 

“We would have been celebrating our twentieth month five days from now,” Jinsoul muses with a bitter smile on her face, “but going in here I just realized that I shouldn’t mope over her. That she should be the one feeling like she lost something because she willingly threw away all those years of friendship for something that’s so… fickle and unsure.” 

There’s the sudden urge overcoming Sooyoung; an urge to wrap her arms around Jinsoul and never let go. 

“All of the shit that happened to me? It shouldn’t be on me.” There’s a sternness in Jinsoul’s voice. Sooyoung thinks it’s an assurance that she will never allow someone to fuck her around like that again. 

“She’s the one who willingly wasted all of the time we had together, and even our friendship. It’s not me who fucked it all up, so I shouldn’t be the one moping and feeling like shit about our failed relationship that completely failed because… well she decided that she’s going to cheat on me.” An exasperated sigh leaves Jinsoul’s mouth. 

Without thinking twice, Sooyoung places her arms around Jinsoul. Her heart is beating frantically inside her chest and she feels it harder than the thrum of the fireworks inside her bones right this very moment. 

The sky is glittering with the celebration of the New Year and she’s sitting here with her arms around Jinsoul, like it’s the last day of her life. Truthfully, she’s glad that it’s Jinsoul she shares the fireworks at twelve am moment with. It makes her feel like an inkling of her unsaid feelings are returned. 

Jinsoul turns her head to face Sooyoung, and before she knows it, her best friend is kissing her. The fireworks may be loud, but nothing is louder than the rhythmic beating in her ribcage -- the very rhythm that says just how much Sooyoung is in love with Jinsoul. The very rhythm that solidifies the fact that the reason why Sooyoung spends these fireworks alone by herself for the previous years, is because she only really wants to spend it with Jinsoul like this. Exactly like this. 


End file.
